Tibco to buy business intelligence software co., Spotfire, for $195M

Tibco, a Palo Alto, Calif. software company, said it has agreed to buy business intelligence software company Spotfire, of Somerville, Mass. for about $195 million in cash.

Tibco said its own software, which gives companies a way to manage their data infrastructure in “real time,” would be complimented by Spotfire’s business intelligence offering. It is the latest in a string of acquisitions of business intelligence companies.

Spotfire, founded eleven years ago, raised about $40 million over the years, with the most recent investment in 2001. It was valued as high as $129 million in 2000, so the bulk of investors haven’t done that well — given that seven years have passed since then.